


Worldliness

by shauds



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Blue Devil (DCU Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Canon?, Eddie Bloomberg doesn't die, M/M, Others to be tagged as they appear - Freeform, The batfamily are a family, as in they know but don't know the other knows, don't know her, identity shenenigans, no editing we die like cannon, who we do not know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:21:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25711291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shauds/pseuds/shauds
Summary: When Rose asked Eddie to leave the Titans Tower with her, he wasn't expecting they'd head to Gotham City. Being unable to help much with her nightly activities, Eddie got a job at a coffee shop. Weird as Gotham was, he wasn't expecting anything really weird to happen. Weird being his dead childhood friend walking in. His dead childhood friend who doesn't even recognize him.Jason was buying coffee, that was all, over-priced, bad tasting coffee because his brother insisted they needed it to carry on with a stakeout. What the hell is Eddie doing in Gotham?
Relationships: Eddie Bloomberg & Rose Wilson, Eddie Bloomberg/Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown & Jason Todd
Comments: 27
Kudos: 64





	1. Chapter 1

When Rose had asked Eddie to leave the Tower with her, no plan, and very little to either of their names, he’d been expecting… Well, while he hadn’t known **what** to expect really, the general expectation had been something dangerous. He knew she hadn’t exactly been laying low when **she’d** left the Tower that first time, going along with the Terror Titans - Eddie **really** tried not to think to hard about part - and then who knew what else, but he doubted it could be have been classified as ‘safe’.

Then, she’d wanted him to leave the Tower with her because without his powers, he was pretty much useless to the team, maybe plenty useful to people who didn’t like them. Of course, she hadn’t said it in so many words, but her brining up what had happened to Wendy and Marvin meant the same thing. She’d wanted him to be safe. And ironically, in her opinion, the safest place she came up with was the most crime-filled city in the country.

There was a friend in Gotham willing to help her, she’d said, and that friend had turned out to be Nightwing – who didn’t recognize Eddie at all, but he was long past expecting people would - and Nightwing was nothing but kind and helpful. So, they had help getting a place to stay, strong hints that maybe they should try out the college, be around more normal people their ages while they figured themselves out. Fully paid, whatever they wanted to study, it was very nice of him and came with a very compelling speech that should have made it the easy option.

Rose took up running around punching bad guys in the face and - because Eddie couldn’t do that anymore, and he didn’t want to sit around at home by himself while Rose was doing that - Eddie got job.

He told himself that working in a coffee shop wasn’t all that different from working as a Gopher. And, okay so the only real similarity was that both involved giving people coffee, but whatever. Gotham wasn’t exactly the movie capital of the world and even if it were… well, as much as Eddie had loved it when he’d helped out on his Aunt Marla’s set, he’ll admit he’s never quite had that same work ethic again.

The coffee shop paid better, it was easier even when things got really busy, and it was rare things got busy, leaving the place mostly empty a lot of the time. Not many customers willing to pay the ridiculous prices they charged for coffee that almost always tasted burnt coming out of a too old coffee machine and snacks that needed to be heated up to be edible. Eddie didn’t blame them.

It was another of those quiet nights, Eddie was flipping through a comic book he’d read so many times he hardly cared about the story anymore when the bell above the door, sounding much louder than it really was, tore through the quiet, making him jump and almost drop the flimsy comic.

The guy who stalked in was tall, but slumped over, his expression sour and put upon, and… very familiar even through Eddie couldn’t remember ever seeing him before. Not particularly **wanting** to deal with a moody customer Eddie looked over the other guy on shift, inclining his head to the door. The other guy, a college student named Fred who’d been absorbed in his phone, repeated the gesture at Eddie. With the suppression of what might have been a very loud, very drawn out groan, Eddie got up, customer service smile plastered on his face and positioned himself at the front of the counter.

”Hi there, what can I get…” Eddie looked at the guy and his voice faltered, he looked like… “you.”

The guy didn’t seem put upon any more. His eyes were wide, looking at Eddie liked he’d just jumped on the counter and started cartwheeling while reciting the script of ‘Indiana Jones’. Seeing as how Eddie couldn’t even do a cartwheel in his current state, there was probably something else going on. Maybe he’d looked up and seen the prices?

”Hello?” Eddie didn’t wave his hand in front of the guy’s face only because there’d been time set aside during his five-minute job orientation to prohibit it.

”Uh… sorry.” The guy blinked his eyes, a blue that was almost green, and ran a hand through his hair, mixing a streak of white in the darker locks. “Two black coffees... please.” He still looked a little out of it, but Eddie just assumed that was what the coffee was for, had to be if the guy was actually getting it from here of all places.

”Coming up.” Eddie tried for a smile again, but it might have been less chipper than it was meant to be.

By the time Eddie set two cups of steaming coffee on the counter, the guy was still dazed, but in the more common way a whole lot of people were when they wondered in here this late at night. And he didn’t take them and try to run like that one guy had two nights ago… yet.

”Thanks, uh…” He waved a questioning hand at Eddie as he plucked a wallet from his pocket.

”Oh, I’m Eddie,” Eddie tugged on the nametag that was partly hidden by his shirt collar.

”What?” The guy choked out, and just like that he was back to shocked and confused.

”That’s my name, it’s Eddie.”

”Hey, we haven’t met before, right?” The guy puffed a breath from his cheeks as he slapped some bills on the counter, something that again, made him seem like **someone** Eddie had met before, but… “You’re kind of familiar.”

”Don’t think so.” No. Eddie shook his head and moved over to the register. Aside from those he knew personally, people never recognized him as Red Devil. It wasn’t that he’d ever gone out of his way to hide his identity or anything like that; it was just the lack of red skinned, glowy-eyed demon in him now. There was nothing remarkable about the way Eddie looked on his own and that worked out okay, now that Rose wanted them to lay low. While this was the first time it had happened in Gotham, back in San Francisco, people had said that he looked familiar. They’d never believed him when he’d tried telling them why, so Eddie didn’t see the harm in saying it now. “Maybe you just saw me on TV sometime? I coulda been an awesome looking superhero at some point you know.”

”Ha.” The guy shook his head, smiled the most forced smile Eddie had ever seen in his life as he took the coffees and backed up towards the door. “Funny.” Then he laughed the most forced laugh Eddie had ever **heard** in his life, kind of a creepy sound really, but Eddie didn’t have to hear it for long. Without even waiting for his change, the guy turned tail and ran for the door like one of this city’s many gargoyles had descended from its heights to drag him away. “Thanks, bye!”

**ooo**

It was weird, but not the weirdest thing that had ever happened since he'd moved to Gotham, so Eddie might not have thought about it much, but…

”Hey.” The guy came back the next day. Standing taller, more alert, and put together while still looking like he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time. In the better lighting, and without the strange air, he looked even more familiar than he had the night before. Again, Eddie just couldn’t put his finger on why.

”Hey, more coffee?” Eddie asked, his customer service smile in place.

The guy wrinkled his nose in a displeased expression Eddie could easily sympathize with, then looked to instead to the rows of snacks. “Any of these good?”

”I like the mini custard tarts.”

”Two of those, then.” The guy smiled, an actual smile this time, and not the half crazy grin from the night before, and held up two fingers.

”Want me to heat them up?” Eddie asked as he used the plastic tongs to remove the tarts from their racks.

”Sure.” He folded his hands on the counter and leaned forward. “So I actually wanted to apologize for freaking out last night, I was…”

”Sleep deprived?” Eddie filled in as he slid the tarts into the microwave.

”Yeah, let’s just go with that.”

”You’re looking a little sleep deprived right now.” Eddie said, crossing his arms and leaning on his end of the counter, as if he’d just been reminded, the guy scrubbed a hand over his eyes. “You shouldn’t worry so much about last night, that’s nowhere near the weirdest thing that’s happened since I started working here. We were almost held up by a guy dressed as turtle once, we **were** held up by this guy dressed as a chess piece.” Eddie stood up taller, spreading his arms out and saying in his deepest voice. “ **The Pawn**.” Eddie chuckled and retrieved the tarts from the beeping microwave. “This whole city’s pretty weird.”

” **Yeah** it is.” The guy watched as Eddie slipped the tarts into their separate paper bags. “Still feel bad about adding to the experience.”

”You feel that bad about it, you can leave me and my excellent service a good review on that board back there.” Eddie jabbed a thumb in the direction of the aforementioned board. The customers that did use it, rarely did for anything other than complaining, but the manager still checked it most days.

”Yes I can.” He tossed one of his warm tarts back at Eddie, who caught it awkwardly, set some money on the counter and made for the board. “An extra tip.” He smiled over his shoulder before used the tethered pen next to the board and plucked up a form from the paper to fill begin filling it out.

Eddie stayed behind the counter as he watched, then counted to twenty after he’d left the shop entirely before he sprinted around and ran up to read what had been written about him, shoving the gifted tart into his mouth as he went.

Five stars colored in for his service, friendliness, the quality of the product. Eddie grinned, but froze, the tart becoming paste in this mouth when he moved on to read the written review. Because even before his mind put together the letters to form words and sentences, he recognized the **way** those words had been written, the swoop of the S, the lopsided E, the sharpness in the W… All of it was even more familiar than the man who’d written them down. Eddie had definitely seen those letters before; he’d waited at his mailbox every Sunday, wherever he’d gone with his Aunt for film shoot, to see those letters.

His heart beating away at his throat, Eddie skipped past the review, moving right down to the name and contact details at the bottom of the page, where it was signed, ‘ _Jason Todd_ ’.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point, I don't think I need to warn you guys about typos anymore, but it is really late right now, and I can barely type coherently, so sorry if there are more than usual.

"He hasn't called yet?"

"No," Jason groaned into his arms, his two month old - a new record for him - phone dangling precariously from the hand he had hanging over the edge of the rooftop.

"Huh." Steph plucked the phone from his loose fingers, rescuing it from it's uncertain fate, a peek her way saw her turning the device over, as if she were going to find some flaw in it to explain the lack of phone calls from old friends Jason hadn't heard from since before he'd died. "You sure you gave him the right number?"

"'Course it was the right number." Jason huffed and reclaimed the phone, he wouldn't make a mistake like that, certainly not when he'd had the thing for **two months** , plenty of time to get the number ingrained into his brain.

"Maybe your handwriting was horrible." "My handwriting is perfect." It was, and even if it hadn't been, it hadn't changed much since he'd sent pages and pages of it for Eddie to read every week,and there'd been no complaints back then.

"Are you sure you gave it to him."

"Yes." Jason glared at her as he swiped through his notifications, just in case. He'd written it very clearly, along with his name on something he knew Eddie was going to see.

"Are we gonna sit here and spy on that tacky coffee shop all night?" She sighed heavily.

"Yes." Jason refolded his arms and again laid his head on them, eyes fixed on the golden neon sign of Eddie's workplace. Maybe Jason should have left an address instead, they'd never done much calling before, with Eddie away at serviceless ends of the Earth most of the time. If he even remembered Jason, if he wanted to get into contact with someone he hadn't heard from in years, someone who he'd probably heard a million horrible things about by now…

"That's it, we're getting coffee." Stephanie tugged sharply on the back of Jason's jacket. Strong as she was, there was no way she could have bodily dragged him, but it did drag Jason out of his head, and as he often did, he let her pull him along.

"Batgirl, no, the coffee there is horrifying." But not without putting up some token of resistance.

"We're the toughass protectors of Gotham's lowest rungs, Red, we'll live."

"Did you pack civvies?"

"We came here to stalk your emotional ass's friend I've never met, of course I brought civvies. **Nice** civvies."

**ooo**

Stephanie's idea of 'nice' was dressing Jason up like one of her more eccentric college buddies, slacks, dress shirt, tie, a horrible plaid jacket and the absolute ugliest scarf he'd ever seen in either of his lives. If Eddie did recognize him and pretended not to, Jason decided not to blame him, it was completely understandable.

"Hey!" Eddie called from off to the side, where he was wiping down one of the tiny tables along the shop's windows before the guy who was actually manning the counter got the chance to speak.

"Eddie." Jason returned the greeting while Eddie walked by him and Steph - who was wearing a much more sensible sweater and jeans - to stand by the counter.

"You remembered me!" The statement was accompanied by a smile that while not wider than the one he'd offered before lit up his eyes in a way that made Jason wonder how brown eyes were ever considered plain. It faltered after a couple seconds and Jason felt his own returning smile growing tighter in response.

"I guess you would, after that five star rating you gave us." He chuckled softly and brushed a lock of red hair, a darker shade than it had been when they were kids, behind his ear. For a moment, Jason wrestled with the thought of reaching out to touch it himself, to know if the way it felt had changed too, of counting how many of his freckles were still where they were in the pictures and few visits they'd shared. "Don't think I've ever gotten that good a grade in my life." So he **had** read it.

" **That's** hard to believe." Jason said, pushing certain thoughts out of mind. Sure, according to Eddie, he'd never done well when he'd been in a structured school, but he'd done well under his tutors at the 'Institute of Hypernormal Conflict Studies,' not that those guys had really struck Jason as the grading type the one time Jason had met them.

Eddie scoffed, opened his mouth to say something, but this time the guy behind the counter beat him to it.

"Yeah, that's how you end up working here, are you here to buy something, or just flirt horribly?"He eyed them with boredom, chewing loudly on a large wad of gum.

"I wasn't…" Jason started at the same time as Eddie guffawed, backing away to put some distance between him and Jason.

Steph, who'd been watching their interaction with silent glee up until that point let out a soft, despairing noise the likes of which Jason had only heard on bad patrol nights and empty eggo boxes she found in the back of his fridge. "First of all," she put herself between Jason and the counter guy, hands on her hips and a pout on her lips, "that **wasn't** flirting, okay, he's freaking awesome at the flirting thing, so note that down, and second…"

"Steph." Jason said, the only thing keeping his face burning up the way Eddie's was - it had been that way at the end of on of their short visits back in the day too, sunburn Eddie had told him then - was Jason's appreciation for her defending his honor, so to speak, warring with the discombobulation of how she'd done it.

"Second I'll take a coffee filled with chocolate and also donut, also filled with chocolate, and commend you for doing your thankless job so well," she cleared her throat and blinked innocently at Counter Guy as she stuffed some money into the tip jar. "Are you getting anything, Jay."

Jason made a face at the idea of getting the coffee again, it really had been bad enough when he's been sleep-deprived, in shock, and planning his revenge against his chuckling gremlin of an older brother; he wasn't looking forward to trying the stuff while he could focus on the burnt taste of it. "The custard tarts," he said, pulling himself out of the horrid memory while simultaneously reminding himself that his revenge had yet to be carried out. He held up four fingers, "four of em."

"I'll get those." Eddie smiled, back to the welcoming but fake smile he'd had on the first time Jason had walked into the store as he moved behind the counter and said to his co-worker, "If you wanna get the hers?"

"Sure." The other guy had a similar, if much more strained smile in place as he got to work on it.

"Sorry for uh, taking up your time." Eddie said, transferring the requested number of tarts to the waiting microwave.

"No!" Jason replied, too fast and too loud for the stilted atmosphere encasing them. "I… I bet you get enough difficult customers without more of us taking up your valuable comic reading time."

"Not really supposed to be reading those while I'm working anyway." Eddie punched in the numbers to heat their tarts, punching in the numbers with more force than was needed.

' _Fuck._ ' Jason bit back what would have been another weak reassurance, instead looking to Steph for his salvation.

"Psh, yeah." She nodded, "I worked at this burger place for years and I got yelled at for that kind of thing all the time," not accurate to what she'd told him, but Jason nodded along anyway. Steph leaned a little forward, stage whispering conspiratorily, "And I swear I wanted to strangle half the guys that walked in there." More than half going off the stories she'd told Jason, but he decided it best not to point that out at this time.

"Don't worry, I don't wanna strangle either of you." Eddie flopped his hand at them while the microwave turned behind him. "I'm actually glad you came by again, so I could say thanks for the rating… again. Even if it was just because you felt bad about before."

"I did leave a number." Jason pointed out, hoping there was a chance Eddie just hadn't seen it, and immediately regretted a second later when it brought for a barely concealed snort from the co-worker. "Figured it was for that kind of thing."

"If you wanna get fired those are for the manager." Co-worker set a steaming coffee on the counter and asked Steph, "You want your donut heated up too?"

Even then, Eddie would have called it anyway if he wanted to talk to Jason again, wouldn't he? It wasn't like Bats - or most capes - made a habit of handing that information out or that he'd let the manager know Eddie had called it. If Eddie **had** recognized Jason… if he had **and** he'd wanted to talk to Jason too. The hope falling out of Jason's chest, that he'd held onto despite Eddie not saying anything to indicate he knew Jason, felt like a physical thing, the empty space it left behind clenching painfully.

"Sure." Steph said, after a glance at the dwindling numbers on the microwave, Jason didn't want to tell her that any extra time she bought him was pointless, he had his answer.

Jason kept his thanks formal when he accepted his the tarts, splitting them between him, Steph, Eddie and the very surprised co-worker while they waited for her donut to heat up and Steph left her own ratings on the board.

"It was nice to see you again, Jason." Eddie called as they left, then something about stopping by again and his patronage being appreciated and everything else that came off the usual company script.

Jason nodded along, waved and smiled and…

"Well, it could have gone worse." Steph made a face at her coffee, and after a tentative sip, dropped it in the nearest trash can. " **That** however…" she shook her head, "that was way too strong and even the divine creation that is chocolate wasn't enough to save it."

"He doesn't know it's me," Jason stopped walking with a sigh that came from deep in his gut, he swallowed, trying to ease the dryness in his throat, his hands scrubbing at his face and raking through his hair.

"I'm sorry, Jay." Stephanie threw an arm around his shoulders, an uncomfortable position considering the differences in his height, he accepted the comfort it provided regardless. "He seemed really nice, and I mean… are you **sure**?"

Jason nodded, not entirely trusting his words right then, and only feeling worse for it. There was no logic to him being this upset by something so small, there were plenty of people from his childhood who wouldn't look twice at him passing them by on the street. Or by where they walked. He hadn't tried to contact Eddie when he'd come back, acting like this was, it was pathetic. Things had been going so well lately, he'd just stupidly expected this to fall into place despite his many misgivings.

"Hey, you know, it's probably cause you grew up so huge and tough from your tiny little Robin days." She broke off the hug, but left her hands on his shoulders, "I bet if we went back in there all bent over he'd recognize you in a heartbeat!" She snapped her fingers for emphasis."

"You think?" Jason snorted despite the wetness in his eyes that she didn't bring up even as he wiped it away.

"Yeah, you wanna try it?"

"Nah." Jason sucked in a deep breath of Gotham's fresh, gasoline scented air and looked back to the shop, "'F we're being realistic here, this is better, more'n just my dress size's changed since way back then. He'd…"

"Uh uh." Stephanie grabbed hold of his cheeks, met his eyes with furious determination. "You start up that crap and I'm setting your loving older siblings on you again. You want another ' _different's not bad_ ' intervention?"

Jason looked back at her, attempted to shake off the weight he's been slowly adding onto his shoulders and said, "Wouldn't mind the cookies."

She glared at him, but eased up after only a handful of seconds, shrugged and released him. "Fair, they were heavenly, but I'm serious Jay, even if he doesn't know you now, or **wouldn't** know the you the way you are now, that doesn't mean you guys can't get to know each other again, right. He's gotta have changed **some** too, but he really **does** seem nice. I bet you'd guys'd hit it off."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Steph nodded sharply. "You should maybe brush up on your flirting a lil first though."

"I wasn't flirting." Jason didn't pout, but he turned his head away from Stephanie, because he knew she would say he was.

"Oh, I **know** ," She said, eyes locked on something in the distance. "Your actual flirting is way more painful than that."

"You said my flirting was great!"

"I'm your wingman in this Jay, I was wingmanning you."

"You didn't need to, I'm not going to do any flirting with my childhood best friend, and on the subject of flirting, let's not pretend **you're** much better," Jason heightened his voice far as it would go in an approximation of hers, "Are you gravity, cause I keep falling for you!"

"Shut **up** ," Stephanie groaned. "See who's going to help you next time, when you definitely **are** trying to flirt with him."

"Nope, know what, I **am** going back, just to prove that there will be no flirting."

"Uh huh, sure, are you talking about the words type of flirting, or stare of longing type of flirting that, by the way you were absolutely rocking back there."

"Fuck you, no I wasn't!"

**ooo**

Eddie turned from the door, his smile falling at the generic goodbyes Jason had given on his departure. In his pocket, his phone, containing the number he'd come up with a billion reasons not to call, burned him with his mere presence. He'd thought… He wasn't sure what he'd been dumb enough to think when Jason and his friend had been here, but he'd been wrong.

Eddie knew he was forgettable, he really shouldn't have expected anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter has some Rose, and some more of Jason pining for the friend that doesn't remember them :)c


	3. Chapter 3

Jason's here again, twenty minutes to the end of Eddie's shift just like clockwork, same as he had for two weeks now.

"Eddie!" Jason waved as he strode in, a grin on his face like they'd just happened to run into each other on the street and this wasn't where Eddie was almost everyday and would be for those next twenty minutes.

"Jason." Eddie greeted, already picking out the best of the custard tarts to heat up for him, it wasn't much, but if Jason liked them enough to stop by for once every night before he moved on to other things, then who was Eddie to dissuade him?

"So, how's business been?" Jason rested his folded arms on the counter, leaning closer to Eddie as he waited.

"Pretty busy, this is our rush hour." Eddie chirped back, glancing about as he always did to make sure nobody was watching. The girl manning the register today was watching Jason intently, but she wasn't the kind to tattle to the manager.

"Oh no, I'm distracting you from your throngs of waiting customers." Jason lamented to the empty shop. Eddie was glad that those lamentations were kept to a reasonable - not loud enough to be heard from the manager's office - volume.

"So inconsiderate." Eddie huffed, folding his arms and looking down his nose haughtily at his most regular customer.

"The guilt." Jason clenched at his chest as though he'd been severely wounded, his face twisting into an expression of agony that was way too convincing to have melted into a smile as fast as it did.

Eddie surprised himself with a genuine chuckle at the scene, Jason would have made a good actor. It was nice that after everything that happened over the years, there was still so much of the Jason Todd that Eddie remembered shining through in this one. The little changes, the white lock in his hair, the changed coloring of his eyes, and the dripping darkness that sometimes lingered in his smiles; they weren't enough to take away from that in any meaningful way, even though Eddie wished he could ask about them the same as he could have asked anything when they were kids. If he'd been a foot shorter, this Jason might have walked out of one of Eddie's more hopeful childhood dreams, only…

"Whoa, what's with that look?" Jason asked, a deepened crease between his tightly drawn brows as he gingerly accepted a single tart and sliding the other back over the counter, as per usual. "You leave your stove on this morning or something?"

"Huh?" Eddie shook off the ache that had settled behind his ribs and nibbled at the offered tart. He forced himself to smile, in his dream, Jason would have remembered him. "Who has the time to turn the stove **on** in the mornings anymore?"

"And that's why we frequent fine establishments like this." Jason bit off half his tart in one go, and then did a poorer job of acting like the hot pastry wasn't burning the shit out of his mouth.

Eddie didn't bother trying to bite back his laughter at Jason's predicament, and Jason, in turn, looked to Eddie with a look of betrayal so over the top, it only made it harder for Eddie to feel bad about it. "Careful, it's hot." Eddie got out once he'd succeeded in stifling his laughter.

"Yeah, no shit." Jason said, then in a show of defiance that was overshadowed with an inexplicable air of pride, he shoved the rest of the **still** hot tart in his mouth, and chewed furiously.

"Hot damn." Eddie sighed, rubbing a hand across his brown, he waited for Jason to stop before he raised his eyebrows and asked. "You want a drink to go with that."

Still red in his face, Jason pointed at the mini fridge behind Eddie.

Eddie picked out a chai iced tea, holding it up and waving it at the girl at the register to add to Jason's usual bill, he opened it with a flourish and offered it to Jason. "This okay?" It was the same kind Jason had gotten at the airport on the first of the few team ups they'd had when they were kids.

"Yeah." But Jason had an odd, softly morose look on his face when he accepted it from Eddie.

"You torture yourself like that every time you eat?" Eddie asked.

"Only when the food's so well prepared." The look was gone from Jason's face so fast, Eddie might have wondered if it had been there in the first place. "Teach me your ways, oh chef."

"My microwave skills **are** legendary." Eddie nodded sagely and took a more reasonably sized bite of his own tart. "I don't think you could handle that kind of secret knowledge."

"Oh, really?" Jason was back to leaning on the counter. "I'm a great secret keeper." He winked and Eddie felt heat prickling at his cheeks.

"They're from the frozen section of a bakery a block away," Eddie blurted out, turning his rapidly reddening face from Jason's view. "But they sell fresh ones too, that are a lot better, if you really like them enough to keep stopping by."

"Uh, thanks." A glance back caught Jason blinking owlishly at him. "Don't think I'd like 'em half as much as these, happiness is great food **and** great company and all that."

"I'm… great company?" Eddie blinked back at Jason, with a clearer mind he might have felt vindicated in noting that Jason seemed caught just as off guard by Eddie's reaction as Eddie had been by Jason's.

"Yeah." Jason replied. After a drawn out handful of seconds, Jason cleared his throat and backed up to the register. "I gotta go, but I'll be back tomorrow. See you then?"

"Sure." Eddie nodded, again angling from Jason's gaze. "See you then Jayce."

Jason was much more open about showing Eddie his answering grin before he waved, then he was gone. Eddie was insanely grateful his only co-worker was more interested in watching Jason than she was in Eddie, and the almost painful grin he wore himself as he let the conversation soak in.

**ooo**

"Another good day?" Rose asked as Eddie shuffled into their shared apartment.

"Yeah," Eddie sighed, not bothering to turn down the slightly dazed and nigh unexplainable grin he's carried home with him from work the past two weeks. She had too much on him already for him to give her this too by denying it.

Jason's first three visits to the shop were easily explainable, he'd wandered in the first, come back to apologize for his wandering in the second and brought his friend to experience the horror of what he'd wandered in to find the third. It wasn't anything personal, nothing against Eddie that it wasn't for him Jason kept stopping by. There were plenty people Eddie had known over the years that he didn't anymore. Jason was just another. Up to a point, Eddie had even convinced himself it hadn't hurt, it wasn't rejection if the other person didn't even know who you were after all.

The first three times Jason had stopped by the shop were easy, or so Eddie had told himself, to brush off. Even the nightly visits, as much as Eddie had begun looking forward to them didn't have to mean anything, but well, even if Jason didn't remember Eddie his pen pal, maybe he could still like Eddie at the coffee shop. Eddie hadn't thought he could ever learn to crave the chemically sweet taste of even the best of the snacks the shop carried, or stop looking forward to his days off

"Well, good for you." Rose's soft chuckle dragged Eddie from his musings. She stretched his arms up above her head, then let them hand over the arm of the sofa she was reclining on. "At least someone in this miserable city should act like an actual in possession of a life person." She groaned. "Balance things out."

The sour note in the second part of her statement brought Eddie fully to the present, to her, and the sight of the wrappings covering one half of the leg she had propped up on a mound on a mound of pillows stacked at the other end of the sofa. That answered the question of **why** she was home this early into the night.

"Did something happen?" Eddie dropped his messenger back on the glass surface of the coffee table that was way too nice to be used as their TV watching footstool the way it was, and got as close to inspecting the wrappings as he felt qualified to.

"What, this?" She jabbed her thumb at the leg before waving her hand dismissively. "This is nothing, a sprain that'll be gone before I head out tomorrow." She scooched herself further into the plush back of the couch, creating a thin row of seating space in front of her.

"Yeah, that healing factor sure comes in handy, huh?" Eddie sat down in the newly opened space. Time was when he had that same advantage, it had taken a broken arm and a minorly mangled hand brought on by trying to catch an out of control bike to drive home that his was really gone. That he hadn't been seriously injured since, he put down to having become hyper aware of that. It also made it harder to brush off the assortment of injuries Rose brought home from her nightly activities. "Doesn't make it nothing." She made a face at him, and Eddie relented. "Then what **is** it?"

"This new case that's had everyone running around the city like crazy. You'd think all the big crime lords'd learn to stay out of Gotham by now, but no, they gotta try setting up shop again, and they gotta be **weird** about it too."

"Weird like how?" Eddie pressed, locking his eyes with Rose's. "Is it bad?"

Immediately, her face shifted, gone from annoyed, but almost relaxed to closed off and tense. "It's not that bad, Eddie, don't worry about it."

"But…"

"It's really just a nuisance, a lot of running around after trucks and long boring stakeouts in the rain." She waved him off.

"If it's not bad, then I don't get why you can't tell me." Eddie looked down at her, pleading but her face remained impassive, she wasn't going to tell him any more, then she'd come home with another injury and leave him to come up with the worst possible scenario as the cause. "Fine." He'd give up, for now at least. "Will you at least tell me what did happen to your leg?"

"Swapped patrol routes with Red Hood and Crime Alley rooftops are as greasy and slippery as they look's what happened." She shuffled uncomfortably, as if trying to burrow into the couch.

"Jason?" He had named for the rest of them, pieced together from their usual conversations, process of elimination said that was Jason, Rose didn't refute it. Eddie's hands gripped at the fabric of his sweatpants. He and Rose weren't exactly next door to Crime Alley. It was a long trek for Rose to make every night on top of how long she usually spent patrolling. "Did he, uh… why did you swap routes?"

"He's got connections in the league and said he'd grab me a couple new swords if I did." Rose said. "Looked like a good trade at the time, but..." She gestured with both hands at her leg again. "He probably got a taste for my immaculately unslippery rooftops when he and Nightwing helped out with that stakeout a couple weeks ago. Something he needs to look into my sweet ass." She huffed and rolled her eyes.

"So, for a work thing?"

"Allegedly, and **Temporarily**."

"Oh." Eddie said, an inexplicable pang bouncing off his chest, he shook it off quickly, schooled his features and asked. "Hey, he's never said anything about me, right?"

"Uh, no." Rose looked at Eddie oddly, whatever reaction she gleaned off him, she hadn't expected. "But our talk is pretty much limited to shop." Slowly, she sat up, gaining a better vantage point from which to scrutinize him. "Should he have? You've never said anything about him before."

"I was just wondering." Eddie pulled away from her piercing glare, and plastered on a smile. "Anyway, I'm going to bed early." He scooped up his bag as he stood. "G'night Rose!" 

"Eddie." She called after him. "you haven't gone to bed early in your life."

"It's nothing bad, you don't have to worry about it!" He chuckled as he parroted her words back at her.

"Don't think another day off this leg wouldn't be worth getting up here to strangle you, you freak." Rose deadpanned, jabbing a finger at him.

"If you can catch me without the carpeting tripping you up!" Eddie called back as he swung open his bedroom door, he waited for her obligatory grumble, before he turned back for a final, "I gotta get up early too, to make breakfast for the invalid."

He shut the door to a muffled. "I'm holding you to that," and a louder, "Night." From her.

Eddie let his smile slip off his face as soon as he was safely out of sight and fell onto his messy bed. It was true that he hadn't spoken much about Jason, hadn't even mentioned him in, in **such** a long time. Because he'd thought his friend was dead and buried. Only he wasn't anymore, he was alive for who knew how long already, and walking and talking and eating overpriced pasties, eating them with **Eddie**.

Temporarily.

Temporarily was okay, way better than nothing. Eddie located the remote under a pillow he shoved his head under as he flicked on the TV. His room filled with the opening scenes of one of his Aunt's earliest movies.

After all, most everything was temporary.


	4. Chapter 4

Eddie had kind of, not expected, but he was prepared for the the nightly visits to end along with Jason and Rose's patrol route exchange program, but they didn't. Jason had shown up at his usual time for a couple of days, panting for breath like he'd just completed a marathon - entirely likely, considering his profession - and left a little sooner that usual. Eddie didn't think too much on the whys of it when it was happening, because it was becoming increasingly hard when Jason was there, to think about anything **other** than Jason.

It had begun to feel so much a part of his general routine, that on the day Jason **didn't** show up, as Eddie had waited out his shift and saw no sign of his friend, that his mind immediately assaulted him with every worst case scenario it could imagine, each one more horrible than the last. Eddie had watched enough movies, read enough comics, that he could imagine plenty of horrible things.

Despite Eddie having never called it one, the number Jason had left on the review board when they'd re-met was still saved on his speed dial. Regardless of the rules placed on such things by management, Eddie almost called it now. It wasn't like Jason would tell, and they **were** friends again, even if they weren't close as they'd been as kids. It would have been fine for Eddie to call, should have been as easy as calling up Rose about dinner, or Jaime to catch up on what he was doing now. 

An image of a ringing phone causing Jason to slip up and something horrible actually happening to Jason slipped in amongst the other horrible imaginings playing in Eddie's mind. He didn't end up calling. The minutes and the seconds crawled on by like ants over skin, itchy and unsettling, and eventually the shift was over. Eddie tried to beg another off the next guys to come in, but they needed their work and neither would give theirs up.

It was ridiculous, Eddie though, Jason could miss one day of stopping by for a custard tart and still be perfectly fine. He was busy, very busy, and he knew what he was doing, had been doing it for years. There were people working with him, people who also knew what they were doings, according to Rose it was most often Batgirl, but Nightwing too a lot of the time. Jason was **fine**.

Jason had also missed letters when they were kids, they both had, and Eddie had always had that same reasoning, he'd never worried, and it had always turned out fine… until that one time it hadn't.

Eddie thought he'd gotten used to the chill of Gotham's night air, but as he made his way home, he was shivering.

"Eddie." He thought he could hear Jason calling, as if Eddie could have done anything to help in his stupid, helplessly human state.

"Hey, Eddie!"

Then he heard it again, this time closer and clearer than they one before had been. Eddie stopped his brisk walk, had only just begun to turn around when Jason barreled past him. "Jason!" Eddie let out a shout he hoped was only surprised and took the few steps towards where Jason had come to a skidding stop.

"I was…" the need to gasp for a breath cut him off, "too late for the…" he gestured past Eddie, the way they had both come from, leaned his weight against a street light, then thought better of it - or worse - and decided just to let all of him sink to the ground in an out of breath puddle, "Why do you walk so **fast**!" He exclaimed, flopping his arms at Eddie.

"Uh…" Eddie squatted next to Jason, close enough to see for himself that Jason wasn't seriously hurt, to feel the warmth that radiated off him, but not close enough that he got any street gunk on his shorts. "I'm not sure how you expect me to answer that."

"Yeah sure, grin your devilish grin at my pain." Jason glared at him, and Eddie hadn't even noticed his grin until Jason pointed it out, he grinned wider.

"Don't you have a bike or something?" Eddie asked, twisting his body so he could check the other side of Jason, just to be sure there wasn't anything wrong with him.

"I'm enjoying the fresh night air." Jason sucked in a deep, appreciative breath, and only a second later forced it out to greedily gulp up another, much shorter one.

Eddie couldn't help but chuckle at that, he didn't bring up how Jason could still technically enjoy the air on a bike, and also how **fresh** was not the best word to use describing this air. "Are you okay?"

"Honestly, I missed my early night snack, so I'm kind of starving." Jason said, pulling himself up until he was sitting on the filthy sidewalk instead of laying on it, he took another moment to suck in a breath.

Telling Jason that Eddie had tried to stay on at the shop a little longer seemed kind of… dumb now he was right in front of Eddie, and okay, and suggesting Jason went and got himself his usual early night snack without Eddie there would have been kind of dumb too. "The bakery we get the tarts from is still open, you can probably make it, if you **run**."

The sound Jason made at the prospect could have been coming from some mutated frog dying of dehydration. "God damnit," he huffed, "but, that's not a bad idea."

He moved to stand, accepting Eddie's offered hand to help him along, his own palm rough and scratchy against Eddies. It was actually a little surprising, Eddie though, his own hands had been a lot rougher in his devil form, he wondered if he would have been on the other end of that difference had they met then. What else would have been different? Eddie was so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn't notice right away that Jason wasn't letting go of his hand, but instead pulling Eddie along with him as they picked up speed into a light jog.

"Jason?" Eddie croaked the word out and tightened his hold on Jason's hand.

"Yeah?" Jason looked over his shoulder at Eddie, he wasn't smiling, but Eddie thought the soft expression directed at him was as good, maybe even better than a smile.

"Nothing." Eddie averted his gaze, hoped he did it fast enough to hide the flush he felt climbing his cheeks, or if he **hadn't** been fast enough that it could be mistaken for exhaustion as he pumped his legs to keep up with Jason.

"I don't actually know where were going, you don't mind showing me the way, right?"

"Jason," Eddie sighed, and pulled ahead, now tugging Jason along after him. "You could have just asked for directions."

"Yeah, but…" and now Jason did smile, and Eddie decided that it **was** actually better then the look from before, "then you wouldn't be showing me the way."

"Because you'd know it." Eddie snorted, they got a couple of weird looks, running through the streets against the grain of the rest of the crowd, who were mostly on their way back from the shopping part of neighborhood, but Eddie didn't mind and he didn't think Jason did either.

*******

The fresh tarts **were** better than the reheated ones at the coffee shop, not by a huge amount, but the difference was noticeable. Jason wouldn't have kidded himself into believing he'd actually like them better under different circumstances though.

"I feel like my lungs are trying to strangle me to death." Eddie gasped, walking besides Jason, his own tarts in one hand and the remaining few sips of a soda sitting in the bottom of the bottle hanging limply from the other.

"Uh, huh." Jason agreed, he'd been doing a lot more running over the past few days, trying to make up the time he spent on his commute from crime alley to this nicer part of town, than he had since his initial return to Gotham. And it was safe to say he wasn't quite as good at it now as he had been, he gently nudged Eddie with his elbow, the company was a whole lot better though. "Worth it."

Eddie chuckled, a soft, musical sound, and shook his head. "I dunno, maybe you just have an addiction."

"Maybe." Jason nodded, and tore his gaze away from his friend before said friend could guess at custard tarts not being the addiction in question. "So, hey you never told me what brought you to Gotham."

"I uh," Eddie began, his features going slack, pained and Jason immediately regretted the question, "I guess you could say I had an accident and couldn't do my old job anymore."

"Oh, yeah?" Jason swallowed, they passed by a trash can and he used disposing of his pastry wrappers as an excuse to give Eddie some physical distance. Jason hadn't looked too far into it, preferring to learn what Eddie had been up to over the years from Eddie himself. His stint on the Teen Titans was public knowledge though, and it was kind of obvious he'd had a very different appearance while that had been ongoing. "That sucks."

"It's okay." Eddie waved him off with a floppy hand gesture, "The accident was… good for me, kind of, and now I get to stay with Rose, and you…" his head snapped to Jason, about to say something, but then his face was red and he quickly turned it from Jason. "My roommate," his chuckle here was more bashful than amused, and he spoke fast enough that Jason might not have been able to pick out the words had he not had training in the word picking out this - granted that was meant for use on terrified interogatees, but it worked here too. "She didn't get along with a lot of the… other people we worked with, but she likes it here a lot better."

"Yeah, I bet she does," Jason grumbled, thinking of Rose's habit of trying to hide in shadows while mooning after his sister, like she forgot that didn't work on bats or something. Brining himself back to the here and now, and his pleasant present company, Jason asked, "and the coffee shop, that your dream career path?"

"Of course, I wouldn't be doing something I wasn't passionate about, Jason." Eddie sniffed with a haughty flip of his hair the motion of his hand catching Jason's attention in an unexpected way, the the fiery glow coming off of Eddie's hair under the golden street lights. He'd always kept it short when they were kids, this looked better on him, but Jason's combat side flared up in some worry at the impractibility, the other sides of him hand to stuff his hands in his coat pockets to keep them from brushing through it.

Eddie wasn't even doing the hero thing now - however that near impossibility had come about - the length of his hair wasn't likely to give him problems. "Jaaason." Eddie sing-songed, apparently Jason had taken too long to make a reply."

"Uh, we were talking about something important?" Jason tried, brain scrambling to remember where they'd left off before he'd gotten… distracted. He'd even stopped walking.

"Not really." Eddie smiled, but he turned away before Jason could take it in.

"No, we were." Jason insisted, he laid a hand on Eddie's shoulder to keep him from turning further. "You're passionate about coffee!"

That startled a snort out of Eddie, his hand wrapped around the Jason's forearm, his grip tight and warm. "I'm passionate about not sitting around the apartment all day." The words had an edge to them, that told Jason they weren't all joke, no matter the humor Eddie had tried to inject into them. "Anyway, you know what I do, but you don't talk a whole lot about what you do."

Jason didn't want to talk about what he did he wanted to an answer to the new questions bubbling up, but he knew when a conversation topic had overstayed his welcome, and he wasn't sure he'd built enough of a rapport to push for them. "Security, kind of." Jason said instead, "I was actually working the night we met." If Dick hadn't nagged for coffee from that exact shop, Jason might… no, he **would** have never walked in. He still wasn't sure whether to be pissed at his brother's blatant manipulation, or thankful for it.

"Lucky our shifts match up, huh?" Eddie finished the last of his now definitely flat soda and walked over to a nearby trashcan to toss the empty bottle away, breaking his hold on Jason's arm.

"I bet we'd have run into each other eventually." Jason said, not wanting to think otherwise, despite knowing first hand just how big the world, even as small a part of it as Gotham could be for the unlucky.

"I hope so." It was only three words, but the way Eddie had said it, the soft sigh that slipped out at the end and the curling up of his lips as he scuffed at the ground with his shoe. It set off a wave of warmth in Jason's chest. "Hey, uh," Eddie cleared his chest, "speaking of work, don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Shit." Jason cursed, he'd told Steph he'd be back in an hour, and that time had come and gone a full extra hour ago now, and he wasn't even near Crime Alley, she was going to grill him when he showed up He hadn't even noticed the time passing. "I might be a tiny bit late." He admitted. "It's fine, I'll just call ahead and I can finish walking you home before I head out." Even a couple hours made a big difference in how safe it was to walk the streets at night, he wasn't willing to take the chance.

"I don't want you to get into trouble with your friend, I'm fine."

"You're my friend too." Jason said. "And you'd be home by now if I didn't drag you all the way here with me."

For a good few moments, Eddie was quiet, wide eyes fixed on Jason as if he'd started dancing like a leprechaun over a pot of gold. Or wait, was that offensive, did leprechauns exist, did they really have gold? "Okay, Eddie choked out, shaking other thoughts from Jason's mind. "If…" he cleared his throat again, "you're sure it's not gonna get you into trouble."

Yeah, no, Jason was definitely in trouble, luckily Steph was more inclined to focus on the 'Jason losing track of time because he was with Eddie' thing, than the 'stood her up for patrol' one. Even then, he had the rest of them to worry about too, damnit. "I'll just make that call real quick."

"Sure." Eddie smiled at him a genuine one, unlike his 'customer service' smile back at his job, and it was worth how ever much teasing he'd have to endure from his nosey family to see that even just a couple more times tonight. "Thanks Jayce."

If Jason turned away to make that call faster than he would have, it most certainly wasn't to cover up the grin that hearing his childhood nickname from Eddie's lips always brought on. It was… some other very plausible reason that Jason wasn't going to waste time coming up with while Eddie was waiting for him.


	5. Chapter 5

Eddie thought he'd adjusted to Jason, to seeing him, talking everyday, he'd thought the knowledge that his friend was back - had been back for a while - had slotted into his everyday reality and settled in, but…

It was just a walk. Not like they'd done anything, or Jason had acted any different to how he usually did, but Eddie's hand where Jason had pulled him along was still warm hours after Jason was gone. He was almost scared to touch anything, worried he was going to smudge the pleasant warmth away. He kind of got that thing people said in movies now, about never washing your hands after someone touched them, because, going that route with this one was tempting.

Just a walk, but… Maybe that was it, even seeing Jason everything, talking to him and feeling him in brief touches when they'd passed things between them… It had been almost surreal, confined to that small space and never tangibly following him home the way it had tonight.

Now, it had practically hit Eddie over his head that he could, if he ran **really** fast, theoretically catch up to Jason, and he would be **here** again - well, Eddie would be **there** , but so would Jason. Real, and breathing, and running with Eddie's hand in his, coming right to Eddie's doroway. If he asked, he'd bet Rose could tell him exactly where Jason lived, he could… he could call, and talk to him again if he wanted.

Eddie pulled out his phone - with the not warm hand - and brought up Jason's number, just to look at it. He **could** , but what would he even say? Somehow the thought of subjecting Jason to his current chain of thought injected Eddie with the traces of what could easily grow into mortification if Eddie went through with it. Jason likely wouldn't take too well to a spiel about Eddie's hand being warm, or how he was obsessing over a walk, a nudge, Jason's soft not-a-smile, his bright **is** -a-smile, how Eddie was…

Eddie didn't even know what he was, but he wanted to see Jason again, wanted to walk with him, hold… Eddie felt his face warm, hold his hand again, hear his voice, because he **could** , whenever he wanted… **theoretically**. Realistically… Eddie could send a text, they were just short letters, Eddie wouldn't have to worry about blurting out something weird, it'd be just like when they were kids!

Half an hour later, the blinking dot in the message app mocked him. What to say? The only thoughts scrabbling around Eddie's brain like gremlins who'd had a veritable buffet after midnight, were those **exact** ones he's worried about blurting out.

"This is getting creepy." She appeared over his shoulder her face barely illuminated by the eerie pale blue light coming from the phone.

Eddie screamed, falling over the back of the couch, he hit the ground hard enough that he **knew** he was going to be sporting a bruise tomorrow, his phone went flying from his hand to shine in a corner instead. Ouch. Rose's disembodied cackling still hurt more though in the metaphysical sense. Light flooded the room and her grinning face stared down at him from over the couch he'd just fallen from.

"You're one to talk about creepy." Eddie said accusingly, righting himself and collecting his phone before she got any ideas about getting it for him, and seeing any of those aborted texts, "what are you doing sneaking up on me in the dark like a fucking vampire?"

"I didn't sneak up on you," but her grin said she didn't try very hard not to either, "why are **you** sitting alone in the dark like a fucking vampire?" She hopped over the couch, opting to lean against the back instead, "also, feed the swear jar you sinner, it's starving after all these months."

"It wasn't dark yet when I started the sitting." Eddie offered up his weak defense, which… actually might be untrue he hadn't paid much attention to his surroundings once he'd gotten inside.

Rose looked at him with squinting eyes, "Okaaay," she said the word slowly, "so it's either another contest or, in line with your unusually high level of sighing lately, you scored a number," she folded her arms, "spill."

"I…" Eddie choked on his words, holding his phone to his chest, he **hadn't** been sighing any more than usual lately, "I didn't **score** a number, I already had it."

"Hot?" She pressed, a grin curling her glossy lips as she closed the distance between them.

"No!" Eddie shouted, then, "I mean, I guess," Jason's… everything slipping into Eddie's mind, unwelcome and with startling clarity, his body temperature went up a virtual hundred degrees and Eddie was quick to slap his hands, along with his phone at his cheeks in retaliation of the proof that would be coloring them too. Curse his stupidly pale complexion, he wished he was still red all over, this never happened then. Of course, he had been know to start fires instead. "But it's not like that."

"Please tell me it's not one of those losers you work with." She clasped her hands before her and shook them pleadingly in his direction. "You're **so** far out of their league, I can't even joke about it."

"It's not, and it's not like that," Eddie reiterated, jabbing a finger in her direction. Wait, her glossy lips, the number of times Eddie's seen Rose in lip gloss can be counted on one hand, and her hair was looking neater too, "What about you? Anything **interesting** happening tonight?"

"Stakeout," she waved the question off, "we're focusing on **your** hopeless love life now, not mine."

"Oh yeah, with who?" Eddie folded his hands, "Or should I guess."

"Fine, I'll drop it," Rose flopped onto the couch, "no need to sink **that** low. What are we watching tonight?"

"You pick." Eddie dropped down next to her, phone still held loosely in his hand, he didn't see himself paying much attention to the T.V tonight.

****

*******

"Hey, can I get your number?" The unexpected question came as soon as Eddie closed the door behind him at the end of his shift. 

' _How does he know?_ '

The surprise must have registered on Eddie's face, because Jason quickly elaborated, a pink tint to his lightly freckled cheeks. "I know you have - **had** mine already, but if it's such a serious issue with your job for you to use it, then…" He waved his hand vaguely at the street around them as he trailed off.

And ' **oh no** ,' his first thought was that Rose had told him something, but she would never. Except, she hadn't exactly been told not to, but… He'd been wondering why Jason'd come by late tonight, Eddie wasn't not on the job, so the work rule shouldn't count. For a moment, Eddie almost considered telling Jason about the dozen or so unsent texts saved in his drafts; only for a moment though, and even then the consideration wasn't **serious**.

"Woulda liked to check in with you last night." Jason was fiddling with his phone, turning the device over in his hands the way Eddie remembered he would with batarangs and pens when they'd been kids. "Or whenever, in case I miss you at work again, schedules and all, but it's okay if you'd rather keep this…"

"Give me the phone." Eddie said it a bit too loud, like his vocal chords were trying to cancel out their sudden silence since Jason's question. He definitely wanted the whole checking in thing, because that would mean Eddie didn't have to worry about being the checker inner and then he maybe he wouldn't spend so much time thinking about it.

Hoping the tremble in his hands wasn't too noticeable Eddie's snatched the phone from Jason's, and swiftly typed the digits into the waiting keypad. There was a sticker, some kind of stylized purple 'S' on the corner next to the speaker, Eddie noticed as he returns the device to it's owner. "Please call me." Eddie didn't mean for that last part to slip out, and yeah, there went his face heating up again. Eddie pretended his flip flops were very interesting to keep from looking up and letting Jason see that. When Jason accepted the phone, his hands were cool where they brushed up against Eddie's which, decided to play catch up and burn like his face.

"I will." Jason agreed readily with a soft chuckle. "Absolutely." When Eddie risked looking up, Jason was directing a soft smile at his phone; then he went and noticed Eddie's gaze and directed that smile his way instead… "Thanks."

That… wasn't a look Eddie was used to being focused on him. His chest clenched in a way that would be pleasant if it weren't so mortifying to remember his chest could do that, Eddie couldn't find words to reply with.

"Hey, since I'm here, you wanna walk for a while, we could grab a coff… wait…" Jason caught himself and looked back at the shop they'd literally just left like he was shocked to see it. "Uh, or we could just walk, since the coffee part's already…"

"Sure." Eddie said, this word coming out easily. "I was just about to walk anyway." He offered up a grin

Jason snorted and they fell into step together, "As long as you were going to do it anyway."

Oh, this was going to take a while for Eddie to get used to, sneaking a look at back at Jason, Eddie wasn't sure that was even something he wanted. It was kind of nice, feeling like his life was a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did try to check for errors on this one, but we all know how bad I am at that, so please let me know if you find anything. Next chapter is going to focus more on Jason side of the whole catching feelings thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Another coffee shop AU, this time for JayEddie, because they are even rarer that my usual rare pair. Will definitely have more than those 3-4 chapters I guessed at earlier.


End file.
